Making and unmaking political subjectivities: Climate justice, activism, and care

Abstract

Much recent work on climate justice and activism focuses on the broader sociopolitical economic contexts in which contestation occurs. These contestatory spaces in neoliberalised economies are frequently depoliticised through a variety of processes, strategies, practices, and actors. Recently this has been framed as the post-politicalwhereby dissent is legitimised as "democratic" only when it does not challenge the status quo of business-as-usual. Most of the analysis and commentary on the post-political has focused on policy or democratic decisionmaking processes and conflict at relatively broad scales, rather than nuanced empirical case studies. In this paper we draw on an empirical case study to explore how processes of delegitimisation affect climate justice activists in emotional and personal ways. We argue that while the political subjectivities of climate justice activists are fragile achievements, a key aspect that sustains them is an ethic of care for humans and non-humans, both near and more distant, who are affected by climate change. Fostering this ethic of care is one key way for climate activists to continue enacting responsibility for climate justice in a way that contests depoliticising and delegitimisation processes.

Unfairness in Society and Over Time: Understanding Possible Radicalization of People Protesting on Matters of Climate Change

“…For example, previous studies revealed the importance of individuals' emotions (anger, hate, and contempt), self-corrections ( Van den Bos, 2018;Feddes et al, 2020), and quest for significance (Kruglanski et al, 2014). We also propose that sense of urgency could be crucial, because when individuals feel there is no time left this may increase their perceived need for radical actions (Bond et al, 2020). In addition, our model could be tested in other contexts, such as in non-Western samples and societies (see Henrich et al, 2010a,b).…”

“…The idea that people and groups least responsible for climate issues suffer the most severe consequences, despite not being responsible for causing for climate issues, is an important driving force for climate protesters (Han and Ahn, 2020). As such, protesters notice relative deprivation between social groups (the disproportionate burden of environmental hazards placed on less privileged people in terms of socio-economic status, Rainey and Johnson, 2009) and continents (the global South will be first to suffer the burden of climate change, Bond et al, 2020;Piispa and Kiilakoski, 2021). Therefore, social injustices and intercontinental injustices shape protesters' judgments of unfairness.…”

“…Feeling responsible for causing or solving climate issues could motivate individuals in Western societies to come to the aid of marginalized fellow citizens or distant communities living on the other side of the globe. This is especially true for individuals who experience a collective ethic of care and hold strong moral principles such as concern for "the underdog" (Skitka, 2010;Van den Bos, 2018;Bond et al, 2020). Research shows that moral convictions (i.e., strong and absolute beliefs that something is morally right or wrong, Skitka and Mullen, 2002) drive collective action (Van Zomeren et al, 2012;Barth et al, 2015).…”

Climates of democracy: Skeptical, rational, and radical imaginaries

“…This approach therefore resists the foreclosure of the persistent political disagreement around this issue and challenges the “post‐political” framing that attempts to place climate change beyond political dispute and delegitimizes the expression of dissent. The “post‐political” framing only tolerates dissent as “democratic” when it does not challenge the status quo (Bond et al, 2020). The aim of democratic institutions, according to the radical democratic approach, is not to suppress conflict, but rather to facilitate its respectful expression, and in this way can defuse the potential that it is expressed violently (Mouffe, 1997, p. 27).…”

Unhealthy geopolitics? Bordering disease in the time of coronavirus

“…We conclude our intervention by noting that blaming others for the disease's emergence and diffusion does nothing to address the immediate challenge of how to live with it, as New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has been quick to point out (Cousins, 2020; Friedman, 2020). Ardern has championed something close to a feminist geopolitical perspective (Bond, Thomas, & Diprose, 2020), which is attentive to how the discourses and practices of public health need to be attentive to the alarmist, uncaring and provocative geopolitical narratives of populist leaders. She and others, such as the Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon, have urged citizens to exercise an ethic of “care and solidarity for one another” (GovScot, 2020) which acknowledges that human bodies, animals, including pets, and the virus share the same spaces.…”